Appointments

Our routlne GP appointment length is 12 minutes. This allows the GP to deal with 1 or 2 clinical problems. However, if you have a very complex problem, or a number of different problems, then we would encourage you to discuss with our reception staff whether you need a 20 or 30 minute appointment.

Urgent 'same day' appointments are 5 minutes long because they are designed to cope with urgent problems, and therefore GPs will not have sufficient time to deal with more complex issues. These are best seen in our routine appointments as above.

Medical examinations can require anything between a 15 minute and a 45 minute appointment. Discuss with the Reception Staff what kind of medical assessment is required.

Can I Bring Someone to Accompany me to the Appointment?

We are generally very happy for patients to bring with them a carer, relative or even a friend. This often helps, particularly when they know you well and it allows them to tell us any observations they would make about you, which can help us in undertaking our assessment. Ultimately this will lead us more quickly to make an accurate diagnosis and therefore help you more.

Also, having someone with you means they can prompt you to ask questions that you may have forgotten, and after the appointment they can help in reminding you what was discussed.

Occasionally we might ask for them to leave but this would be unusual.

If you require interpretation services please contact us in advance of you appointment and we will arrange this.

Nurse Appointments

Nurse appointments are available by booking via the telephone or at reception.

We have a skill mix within our nursing team and it is therefore important that we know what it is you wish to consult the nurse about so that we may book you in with the appropriate person for the appropriate length of time.

We have two Health Care Support Workers who are trained to carry out some clinical duties e.g. taking blood samples, measuring blood pressures.

These members of staff are not Nurses and are unable to advise on specific tests requested by a doctor or on the meaning of results.

Telephone Appointments

Increasingly in the last few years we have been using telephone consultations with our patients. You can ask for your GP or Nurse to discuss a problem on the telephone. These appointments are usually mid-morning before or after surgeries.

The Reception Staff will take some information from you, and arrange for the Clinician to telephone you back later in the day.

Typically telephone appointments are used for:

Following up on a particular problem – has it got better, or does it need further treatment.

Giving results, where the result needs more explanation than usual.

Giving advice or detailed explanation, often after a hospital appointment – once the hospital letter has been received.

Extended Hours

From 07:30am until 08:30am every Monday morning, we run a surgery which is designed to allow people, who are unable to attend during the day, to come and see a GP in the morning.

This includes appointments with our Health Care Support Worker for blood tests.

Cancellations

If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason please inform us as soon as possible in order for us to give the slot to someone else. A recent analysis indicates that we lose 10 surgeries (120+ appointments) a month because patients do not let us know they are unable to keep their appointment.

Home Visits

Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible. In this respect, if you do need a home visit, you can help us by calling reception before 10:00.

You may only request a Home Visit if you are housebound or too ill to visit the practice. Your GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the doctor to schedule house calls

You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

NHS Referrals

When you are referred to hospital, we type a letter which includes the main concerns of your clinician, and we also give the hospital a summary of your previous problems and the current medicines you are on.

Once the letter is typed it is emailed via a secure intranet to the appointments department at the hospital that your clinician feels is most appropriate for your problem.

The referral letter includes a prioritisation of how urgent the problem is. This should enable the hospital consultant to decide when you should be seen. We prioritise as urgent or routine. This is the normal prioritisation that takes place for NHS referrals.

Once the hospital receives the letter, they are responsible for organising the appointment.. Some departments will send out an appointment quite soon, and others are quite delayed. It very much depends on the waiting list for that department, the particular consultant you are seeing, and the urgency.

Changes to your Clinical Problem

Sometimes, after a referral has been done, your condition may change

If it has resolved completely:

and you are absolutely sure that you do not need the appointment, then contact the hospital, ask for appointments, and ask them to cancel the appointment

but you are not absolutely sure whether you should keep your appointment, it is worth contacting the practice secretary, who will discuss it with your GP and they will either leave you a message about what you should do, or will give you a phone

If it has become more worrying or you are getting worsening symptoms:

then please contact the practice secretary and they will take your details, and will discuss it on your behalf with your GP. We will then phone you back and let you know what we suggest should happen.

If you have been waiting much longer than you had expected for your hospital appointment, and you are concerned that they have not received it, or that the waiting time is inappropriate for the problem, then you can telephone the appointments department for your hospital.

Private Referrals

If the referral is a private one, because you have made a request for a private referral, then the letter is dictated, typed, and you should collect the letter from the front desk. We are able to email some referrals and your GP will let you know which route is applicable. It is your responsibility to telephone the private clinic that you are going to, in order to book your appointment directly. The envelope will detail which consultant you are to see, and the telephone number of the clinic.

If you receive an appointment, but the date does not suit (perhaps you are on holiday) then you can telephone the hospital appointments department and ask them to change this. Remember that making such changes often leads to your appointment being delayed a number of weeks.

When you have received your appointment, please put it in your diary and make sure you keep it.

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days (five working days) or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

Undergraduate Training

As a practice we are committed to medical education. We currently teach 3rd year medical students led by Dr MacMillan. These students are from Glasgow University and come to us under the auspices of Greater Glasgow NHS University Trust.

The under-graduate students are all aware of the importance of Patient Confidentiality. You will be asked if you are willing to allow students to be present/involved in your consultation, at the time you book your appointment or on checking in for the appointment.

If you do not wish to have students present please inform the reception staff.

Postgraduate Training

As part of our interest in medical education we are involved in GP Registrar training. GP Registrars are fully qualified doctors with significant hospital experience. They will usually not have worked in a primary care/general practice setting. The purpose of this additional training is to equip them for working in a General practice setting.

The Registrar is with the practice for one year and is gradually incorporated in to the services the practice provides. They have a GP supervisor to refer to at all times. Dr's McAuley, Macdonald and Gilmore are the supervisors for this.

Nurse Training

On occasions, the practice supports nurse training, when students from Glasgow Caledonian University are attached to the practice. These students may be seeking to gain a general nursing qualification, or may be nurses who are intending to extend their practice in more specialized fields, including district nursing, public health nursing, or another speciality.